I understand what you are getting at. We (because of Pep) reinvented the way most teams try to play - you can see it even at lower levels. The possession from the back ie giving a player the ball in tight spaces and looking for quick lay offs rather than just boot it forward was revolutionary and copied by all. To counter that coaches have come up with better defensive plans and press quicker as a unit. This puts players under more pressure which is why you often see so many teams who are not as skilled get caught out at the back. We have always carried this mantra further up the field - keep possession make triangles and wait for the opportunities to come - teams have sussed it and you now get average players like Hughes at Palace being able to break up our hesitant play easily.Where did you get that idea from?
My point is that Arsenal and us play a very similar style and are having very similar struggles so there is probably an overlapping reason why.
Liverpool and Chelsea don't appear to have these same problems so perhaps we should tweak our style to what appears to be effective currently.
Liverpool and Chelsea still do a bit of that but the difference is pace - they both quickly transition forward - you see with Palmer he often gets the ball deep and either gives a quick pass or drives forward into space. Both teams have pace to burn to give options. For us how many matches have players made forward runs to no avail - it must get them down a bit and we now find Erling and others don't make 50 runs per game. The lack of quick possession hurts us. Erling hasn't suddenly lost pace rather he is often on the back foot as Gundo, Lewis & others play rondos in the final third - not ideal.
I really don't want us to turn into an old fashioned boot it long team ever again, I still have scars from watching Stuart Pearce's team - fortunately that will never happen with the way Pep coaches etc. But I hope we find a new way of getting the best from our players. Savinho & Doku for me are the clearest examples of going backwards offensively wise. Savinho looks actually scared to lose possession and has changed the very instincts that made us want to bring him in.
I think it can all change with one astute signing - someone who has no fear driving forward like Kev did for our best years. I am hopeful Pep will come up with another strategy and stop relying on the same players to have most of the ball in build up - Walker, Lewis and Gundo being the slowest movers of the ball or in Walker's case delay, delay then whack it upfield out of play!